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Read (?): Corey Taylor Self-help Memoir

Seven Deadly Sins: Settling the Argument Between
Born Bad and Damaged Good, recently published by Da Capo Press, has its moments
but veers way too far in the direction of preachiness.

By John B. Moore

If nothing
else, Corey Taylor – front man for hard rockers Slipknot and Stone Sour
– should be commended for forgoing the clichéd “look how many groupies I banged
and, by the way, I did shitloads of drugs” rock star quickie bio that seems
almost a requirement nowadays. Those are included in his book, by the way, but
in a much subtler way.

In Seven Deadly Sins, his ambitious if not
quite fulfilled thesis, Taylor
sets out to tackle the Bible’s Seven Deadly Sins and expose the church and
society’s hypocrisy in the process. Not exactly earth-shattering, but pretty
refreshing coming from a global rock star best known for wearing masks on stage
(as well as being, quite possibly, the only band from Iowa that has played
Madison Square Garden). Taylor
digs deep into his past and opens some pretty big wounds about being a teen
drug addict, raised by a neglectful mom, also reliving abuse and molestation in
the process. All heavy topics wrapped in Taylor’s
seen-it-all pop psychology.

“Not only are we all guilty of just being
ourselves, we were never guilty in the first place,” writes Taylor. “The only problem comes when we
become caricatures of these deadly whims, like the politician who extols family
values yet is forced to resign because of a dirty little fuckfest with a hooker
in a truck stop bathroom, or the movie star who believes himself above the
great unwashed just because his cheek bones are pronounced and angular. The
people are not sinners: They are just
shitty people.”

Taylor’s ramblings, though entertaining at first, start to grate
by the time you hit gluttony. A decent enough effort, that doesn’t exactly
fulfill its promise. Two hundred and seventy pages later, I’m wondering if Taylor is guiltier of
vanity or greed for thinking his peachiness on society’s ills is worth shelling
out $25 in hardcover.

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